cartridge
noun
Simple meaning
Ammunition made up of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet.
Pronunciation
Say it like this:
kahrtruhjSay the bold part a little louder.
IPA pronunciation (US)
ˈkɑɹtɹədʒ
This word is pronounced essentially the same in American and British English, so one transcription covers both.
IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet) is a standard way of writing speech sounds.
Definition
Everyday modern meanings first, grouped by part of speech.
noun
firearms
Ammunition consisting of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet; fired from a rifle or handgun
firearms
The package consisting of the bullet, primer, and casing containing gunpowder; a round of ammunition.
computing
A vessel which contains the ink or toner for a computer printer and can be easily replaced with another.
by extension
A prefabricated subassembly that can be easily installed in or removed from a larger mechanism or replaced with another interchangeable subassembly.
Word at a Glance
- Difficulty
- A2 · Elementary (estimated)
- Frequency
- Common
- Typical Use
- Varies by meaning
Word Aura™
How this word commonly comes across.
Aura for this meaning
This meaning: Ammunition consisting of a cylindrical casing containing an explosive charge and a bullet; fired from a rifle or handgun
Used this way, cartridge is a reasonably familiar word that usually carries little praise or criticism of its own. It usually sounds natural in a wide range of settings.
- Emotional tone
- Neutral
- Formality
- Neutral
- Intensity
- Not strongly marked
- How common
- Moderately common
- Connotation
- Matter-of-fact
- Usage feel
- Neutral and straightforward
Word Aura describes common impressions, not a measurement. Tone changes with sentence, speaker, relationship and situation.
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Common Patterns and Combinations
How this word naturally appears with others.
Word Family
Related forms, grouped by how they connect.
Compound terms
Established multiword terms.
A broad belt with loops or pockets for holding ammunition.
An alloy of copper and zinc (containing about 30% zinc) that is wrought into cartridges or tubing.
A metal frame or container holding cartridges.
A mechanism in a firearm that ejects the empty shell case after firing.
A mechanism in a firearm that pulls an empty shell case out of the chamber and passes it to the ejector.
Any font that is contained in a cartridge that can be plugged into a computer printer.
Related Words
Connected to the same idea, not synonyms.
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Words can change meaning depending on context.
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Dictionary data from Wiktionary via the Free Dictionary API. Simple meanings, combinations and word intelligence are built from verified reference data, no AI is used to load this page.